Overview: RESTful WCF services

Sitefinity CMS introduces the web service API in its full extent. While, in previous versions of Sitefinity CMS, we have always made sure to provide developers with fully exposed API, we have done so only for the server side development scenarios. The web service API is based on the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) REST approach,where each service represents one entity of the domain model. The web service API follows very strictly convention where for each entity following operations can be performed:

• Get single item
• Get collection of items
• Save item
• Delete items

In this section of the manual, we are going to explore the following topics:

• Sitefinity CMS WCF RESTful Services - we will provide a high level overview to the WCF REST Services and their implementation in Sitefinity CMS. REST Services as it is known are taking advantage of the HTTP protocol to its full extent, making them highly accessible to a variety of clients.
• Client binder controls - in order to simplify AJAX operations, Sitefinity CMS comes with a common framework for Ajaxifying user interface. The main advantage of this framework is a common and relatively simply way to work with data through webservice through declarative Client Binder controls, while abstracting the client side development.
• Client Side API - while Client Binders will prove a great tool for the most common scenarios, ocassionaly one will need more control and work directly with the client side API. In this topic we will explain the client side classes and their usage.
• WCF REST API reference - in this section we are providing full reference for all the Sitefinity CMS services and their usages.
• Implementing your own WCF REST service - Sitefinity CMS provides base classes for smooth, quick and zero-configuration WCF REST services, which are the recommended way of implementing WCF services for Sitefinity CMS. In this section we will provide a step-by-step instructions on implementing such services.